Anosognosia and major depression in 2 patients with cerebrovascular lesions

We report 2 patients who developed a neglect syndrome, anosognosia, and major depression immediately after a right hemisphere cerebrovascular lesion. These cases demonstrate that neglect, anosognosia, and major depression may coexist in the same patient, and that the presence of anosognosia does not preclude the patient's recognition of emotional impairment.

The impact of poststroke depression on recovery in activities of daily living over a 2-year follow-up

The impact of clinically diagnosed depression on recovery in activities of daily living over a 2-year follow-up was examined in a prospective study of 63 stroke patients. Although impairment in activities of daily living, neurologic diagnoses and findings, lesion location and volume as measured on computed tomographic scan, demographic variables, cognitive impairment, and social functioning were comparable between depressed (n = 25) and nondepressed (n = 38) patients during their acute hospitalization, the two groups had different patterns of recovery in activities of daily living. At 2 years after suffering a stroke, patients with an in-hospital diagnosis of depression (either major or minor depression) were significantly more impaired in both physical activities and language functioning than were non-depressed patients. Among patients with major depression, this disparity in the recovery profile was present even after the depression had remitted. This study emphasizes the need for early recognition and treatment of poststroke depression.

Dementia in stroke survivors in the Stroke Data Bank cohort. Prevalence, incidence, risk factors, and computed tomographic findings

We determined the prevalence of dementia in 927 patients with acute ischemic stroke aged greater than or equal to 60 years in the Stroke Data Bank cohort based on the examining neurologist's best judgment. Diagnostic agreement among examiners was 68% (kappa = 0.34). Of 726 testable patients, 116 (16%) were demented. Prevalence of dementia was related to age but not to sex, race, handedness, educational level, or employment status before the stroke. Previous stroke and previous myocardial infarction were related to prevalence of dementia although hypertension, diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrillation, and previous use of antithrombotic drugs were not. Prevalence of dementia was most frequent in patients with infarcts due to large-artery atherosclerosis and in those with infarcts of unknown cause. Computed tomographic findings related to prevalence of dementia included infarct number, infarct site, and cortical atrophy. Among 610 patients who were not demented at stroke onset, we used methods of survival analysis to determine the incidence of dementia occurring during the 2-year follow-up. Incidence of dementia was related to age but not sex. Based on logistic regression analysis, the probability of new-onset dementia at 1 year was 5.4% for a patient aged 60 years and 10.4% for a patient aged 90 years. With a multivariate proportional hazards model, the most important predictors of incidence of dementia were a previous stroke and the presence of cortical atrophy at stroke onset.

Mania after brain injury: neuroradiological and metabolic findings

We present a consecutive series of 8 patients who developed a manic episode after a brain injury. Five patients had cortical lesions (4 with damage to the right basotemporal region, and 1 with bilateral damage to the orbitofrontal area). While the other 3 patients had subcortical lesions (white matter of the right frontal lobe, right anterior limb of the internal capsule, and right head of the caudate), a fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scan showed hypometabolism in the right lateral basotemporal region in all 3 patients. These findings suggest a major role for the basal region of the right temporal lobe in the modulation of mood.

Relationship between anxiety disorders and depressive disorders in patients with cerebrovascular injury

The interaction between anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder in patients with cerebrovascular lesions was examined in a controlled, 2 x 2 study design. A consecutive series of 24 patients who met criteria for major depression only were compared with 6 patients who met criteria for both major depression and generalized anxiety disorder, and 45 patients who did not meet criteria for either major depression of generalized anxiety. Among patients with positive computed tomographic scans, the anxious-depressed group (n = 19) showed a significantly higher frequency of cortical lesions, while patients with major depression only (n = 15) had a significantly higher frequency of subcortical (basal ganglia) strokes. No significant between-group differences were found in other variables, such as demographic variables, familial and personal history of psychiatric disorders, and neurologic deficits. These findings suggest that, in this mostly black, low-socioeconomic-status population, cortical vs subcortical lesion location may play an important role in determining whether severe anxiety occurs in patients with post-stroke major depression.

Infarcts with a cardiac source of embolism in the NINCDS Stroke Data Bank: historical features

To gain insight into the historical features relevant to the diagnosis of cardiac embolic strokes, we studied the 1,290 patients with cerebral infarcts in the NINCDS Stroke Data Bank. Based solely on the presence of cardiac sources of embolism, we divided the patients into groups of high (n = 250), medium (n = 166), and low (n = 874) risk of a cardiogenic mechanism for their stroke. There was a highly significant graded relationship between increasing risk of a cardiac source and a history, or presence of, systemic embolism, abrupt onset, and diminished level of consciousness at onset. These clinical features may be useful for assessing the likelihood of a cardiac embolic mechanism in patients with cerebral infarcts.

Determinants of early recurrence of cerebral infarction. The Stroke Data Bank

We studied 1,273 patients with ischemic cerebral infarction who were entered into the Stroke Data Bank, a prospective, observational study involving four university hospitals and the Biometry and Field Studies Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Forty patients had noniatrogenic recurrent stroke within 30 days after the index cerebral infarction. Using life tables, the 30-day cumulative +/- SE risk of early recurrence for all infarctions was 3.3 +/- 0.4%. The risk of early recurrence was greatest for atherothrombotic infarction (7.9 +/- 2.2%, eight of 113 patients) and least for lacunar infarction (2.2 +/- 1.2%, eight of 337 patients). Both cardioembolic infarction (4.3 +/- 0.9%, 10 of 246 patients) and infarction of undetermined cause (3.0 +/- 0.5%, 14 of 508 patients) had intermediate risks. History of hypertension and diabetes mellitus, as well as diastolic hypertension and elevated blood sugar concentration at admission, were associated with early recurrence. Logistic regression analysis estimated the risk of early recurrence to be 8.56% in those with coexisting hypertension and a glucose concentration of 300 mg/dl versus 0.77% in the absence of these two abnormalities. Early recurrence was associated with longer median duration of initial hospital stay (27 vs. 14 days) and a higher 30-day case-fatality rate (20% vs. 7.4%). Increased weakness scores were associated with early recurrent stroke. Identification of the determinants of early recurrent stroke may lead to better secondary prevention and may help select high-risk patients for further study.

Mood changes after right-hemisphere lesions

Ninety-three patients with acute stroke lesions restricted to the right hemisphere were examined for the presence of mood changes. While 46 patients showed no mood changes, 19 were unduly cheerful, 17 had developed major depression, and 11 had developed minor depression. Although there were no significant between-groups differences in other demographic variables, neurological deficits, activities of daily living, cognitive impairment, or quality of social support, patients with major depression had a significantly higher frequency of familial history of psychiatric disorder and lesions of the parietal cortex than patients with either no mood change or major depression following left-hemisphere lesions. On the other hand, undue cheerfulness was significantly associated with lesions of the right frontal operculum. These findings suggest that major depression following right-hemisphere lesions may have a different aetiology and mechanism than major depression following left frontal or basal ganglia lesions.

Lateralization of dementia of depression in stroke patients

In a group of stroke patients with left-hemisphere lesions, those with major depression performed significantly below nondepressed patients on four of nine cognitive domains examined with a neuropsychological test battery. Among patients with right-hemisphere stroke, those with major depression did not perform below nondepressed patients on any of the nine cognitive domains. The differential effect of depression on cognitive performance between left- and right-hemisphere lesion groups could not be accounted for by demographic variables, neurological symptoms, lesion location, or lesion size. Poststroke major depression appeared to produce a decline in cognitive performance or dementia of depression that depended on the laterality of the lesion.

Morning increase in onset of ischemic stroke

The time of onset of ischemic stroke was determined for 1,167 of 1,273 patients during the collection of data by four academic hospital centers between June 30, 1983, and June 30, 1986. More strokes occurred in awake patients from 10:00 AM to noon than during any other 2-hour interval. The incidence of stroke onset declined steadily during the remainder of the day and early evening. The onset of stroke is least likely to occur in the late evening, before midnight.

Infarcts of undetermined cause: the NINCDS Stroke Data Bank

In a prospective study of 1,805 hospitalized patients in the Stroke Data Bank of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke, the 1,273 with infarction were classified into diagnostic subtypes. Diagnosis was based on the clinical history, examination, and laboratory tests including computed tomography, noninvasive vascular imaging, and where safe and relevant, angiography. Five hundred and eight cases (fully 40%) were labeled as infarcts of undetermined cause (IUC), of which 138 (27%) were evaluated with both computed tomography and angiography. The clinical syndrome and computed tomographic and angiographic findings in 91 (65.9%) of these 138 IUC cases were clearly not attributable to large-artery thrombosis and could permit reclassification of the infarct as due to some form of embolism. Failure to define a source of embolus kept them in the category of IUC. Thirty-one cases (22.5%) could be reclassified as due to stenosis or thrombosis of a large artery, and 16 (11.6%) as lacunar infarction. To determine if those selected for angiography among the IUC patients differed from those with other final diagnoses, a stepwise multiple logistic model was used. The most important characteristics were young age, presence of a superficial infarct, prior transient ischemic attack, low weakness score, and presentation with a nonlacunar syndrome. The results of the model suggest that angiography use was determined by clinical characteristics uniformly across centers and not by final diagnosis. Continued use of the category IUC may help clarify risk factors and stroke subtypes, allow new mechanisms of ischemic stroke to be uncovered, and prevent classification categories of stroke used in clinical trials from becoming too broad.

Lack of effect of naloxone on prolactin and seizures in electroconvulsive therapy

Both opiate agonist and antagonist injection have been reported to modulate prolactin secretion, alter brain excitability and produce seizures, and modify the postictal state. We studied the effects of administration of high-dose naloxone, an opiate antagonist, on postictal prolactin levels, seizure duration, and postictal behavior, using patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a seizure model. Seven patients had 8 mg naloxone injected prior to one ECT treatment and saline injected prior to another treatment, with the order of injection randomized. Before ECT and 15 min after ECT, prolactin levels were drawn, and no blunting of the expected postictal prolactin elevation by naloxone injection was observed. We found no evidence that endogenous opiates trigger prolactin secretion during seizures. Seizure duration was also similar in saline and naloxone groups, and naloxone did not reverse postictal depression, as has been reported in an animal model.

Comparison of spontaneously recovered versus nonrecovered patients with poststroke depression

We followed 16 patients who developed depression immediately after a stroke for 6 months. By that time, six patients showed no depression (recovered group), while 10 patients were still depressed (nonrecovered group). There were no significant differences in demographic variables and social functioning between the groups, but the nonrecovered group showed less improvement in cognitive function and more physical impairments. Patients in the nonrecovered group had mainly cortical lesions, while those in the recovered group had mainly subcortical and posterior circulation strokes.

Silent stroke in the NINCDS Stroke Data Bank

Previous brain infarctions seen on CT are common in the absence of history of stroke. Eleven percent of patients (135/1,203) without stroke history had ischemic lesions on their first CT, unrelated to the presenting stroke. Stroke Data Bank files were reviewed to determine whether the occurrence, location, and CT characteristics of those lesions are associated with their undetected status. Two distinct patterns were seen: (1) Small lesions of 1 cm or less were left hemisphere predominant and involved the deep structures of the brain; the majority of these were clinically silent. (2) Lesions greater than 1 cm occurred more frequently in the right hemisphere and were mostly superficial; these infarcts produced signs unrecognized by the patient or family. Risk factors for silent stroke were similar to those for stroke in general. Frequencies of in-hospital complications and 30-day fatality rates from the presenting stroke were not influenced by the existence of a prior silent stroke.

Prediction of intracerebral hemorrhage survival

The Pilot Stroke Data Bank obtained information on 94 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. These data were used to identify factors predictive of 30-day outcome from among 85 demographic, historical, clinical, and laboratory variables generally available to clinicians on the day of admission. The 9 univariate factors statistically associated with outcome were Glasgow Coma Scale score, systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, horizontal and vertical gaze palsies, severity of weakness, presence of brainstem-cerebellar deficits, interval stroke course, and parenchymal hemorrhage size. Beginning with these factors, a step-down variable selection procedure was used to derive a logistic regression model, containing only Glasgow Coma Scale score, pulse pressure, and hemorrhage size, that could be used to categorize correctly 92% of the patients as alive or dead at 30 days after onset.

Differential mood changes following basal ganglia vs thalamic lesions

Patients with computed tomographic scan-verified unilateral lesions in the basal ganglia or thalamus were examined for the presence of poststroke mood disorders. Patients with left-sided basal ganglia lesions (mainly in the head of the caudate nucleus) showed a significantly higher frequency and severity of depression, as compared with patients with right-sided basal ganglia or thalamic (left- or right-sided) lesions. Results suggest that damage to biogenic amine pathways and/or frontocaudate projections may play an important role in the modulation of mood.

The Stroke Data Bank: design, methods, and baseline characteristics

The National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke initiated the Stroke Data Bank, which is a multicenter project to prospectively collect data on the clinical course and sequelae of stroke. Additional objectives were to provide information that would enable a standard diagnostic clinical evaluation, to identify prognostic factors, and to provide planning data for future studies. A brief description of the structure and methods precede the baseline characterization of 1,805 patients enrolled in the Stroke Data Bank between July 1983 and June 1986. Two thirds of these patients were admitted within 24 hours after stroke onset. Medical history, neurologic history, and hospitalization summaries are presented separately for the following stroke subtypes: infarction, unknown cause; embolism from cardiac source; infarction due to atherosclerosis; lacune; parenchymatous or intracerebral hemorrhage; subarachnoid hemorrhage; and other. The utility and limitations of these data are discussed.